Thanks to the Anti Smoking Lobbysits in , what some people think, the greatest country on earth, the USA, the famous Abbey Road cover in the USA (capitol records?) will never be the same. On the new cover Pauls cigarette is removed. I´m not a smoker myself but I think this is really far overexageratted. I can´t find pictures of the `new` cover on the internet but it was on british news (I heard from a friend of mine from London) and in dutch newspapers.

I was reading at Abbeyrd that it MAY be deleted from future releases of Abbey Road. It is not official yet. It has only been released from posters so far. I personally think it's a bit phony. What can be done- edit out scenes from the films, edit all photos of the Beatles, edit edit forever.... I am an exsmoker, by the way; quit 11 years ago. Why not let everything stand, as a reminder, it is the truth; George died of lung cancer.

Is it just me or does it seem stupid to change a 30 year old album cover?

New smokers are usually teenagers....how many teenagers are out buying Abbey Road? Quite a few I'm sure but a teen listening to a 30+ year old album is likely to be independent enough of the crowd to make an informed decision about smoking......now if Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys were holding cigarettes on the cover I'd say that may influence some that it's cool to smoke.

Should they drop Helter Skelter from the White Album because Charles Manson was inspired to kill?

I agree that it would be stupid to remove the cigarette from Paul's hand. The cover of the Simon and Garfunkel box set "Old Friends" has a picture of Paul Simon holding his hand up in the air, but it looks rather silly. The original picture had him holding a cigarette. At Simon's request, the cigarette was removed from the picture for the cover.

I can't imagine looking at the cover of "Young Americans" by David Bowie without him holding the cigarette.

The same can be said for Paul and "Abbey Road."

Leave things alone. I don't like revisionist history. [:(!] (I'm working on a master's in history) [8D]

quote:Originally posted by Liam OSMThis is really like Paul flipping the names around - it's a little thing and it shouldn't matter either way.

Good call Liam. I didn't think about that. Hmmm. Still, editing a photo seems a bit different to me than flipping names around that have been flipped around from the very beginning.

Back in the days of "Abbey Road," album covers were considered art just like the music was considered art. Names aren't really art. Oh well. I guess anybody can find any way to justify where they stand on this issue.

I don't think they should ever tamper with any album covers from the past. It has nothing to do with song writing credits. As MTM says, this stuff is pop art and part of our rich musical heritage. Every last inch of album cover should be enjoyed (unless it's TWO VIRGINS!!). CD's have ruined that for me. I like the size of the album.